Quite belated and not sure if anyone is interested, but I thought I’d share a few thoughts from my first game day experience since 2002 when Franchione was coaching, and only my second Alabama game experience, ever. As background, my wife, her siblings, my in-laws and I think a grand in-law are grads, and now my daughter who's now a freshman. FWIW, I’m a West Coast guy who grew up in the Bay Area, and is now toiling with the demise of the Pac and looking for a new home. . . .
Last weekend, my wife and I traveled to Tuscaloosa and went to the USF game; I thought it to be a truly a great experience overall, a good mix of the new and the old.
Parking was pretty easy, as we found a Boy Scout lot adjacent to the University Club, On a whim, we joined the University Club a couple of months ago and ended up “tailgating” there pre and post game. A really nice experience, great service and great food. Good people there, as well. Happy to plug the recently reopened Club. They’re working hard!
Since it was USF, we were able to get seats on the 47 yard line, row 20 behind the Bama bench. Surprisingly inexpensive on SeatGeek. Thanks for all the advice on where to sit; invaluable. While I was surprised how far those seats were from the field, I actually loved the walkway and fence behind the bench. Very cool and unique I think; might be fun to spend a game down there sometime. Someone mentioned that anything below row 11 would be tough to see, and I agree with that completely.
The crowd was electric, the songs and traditions a lot of fun. Most seemed to have shakers (I”ve been told not to call them pom poms) as well. Great to see, albeit different from what I'm accustomed. Our seat mates were a hoot and not at all what I was expecting. The guy two seats down cheered before every play with a quick quip of encouragement (eg "Come on D, it’s time to containnnnn!"), ending every one with "Roll Tide Roll”. For all three hours of the game he encouraged the team. The stamina he had! A woman two rows in front wore one of the more provocative outfits I’ve ever seen at a football game. My wife (an aforementioned Bama grad) had always told me how formally dressed the Alabama crowd was, though that’s certainly changed; not that I’m complaining. The overall enthusiasm and commitment for the Tide was great to see. College football runs a lot deeper here than it does on the Left Coast; it’s a different world, but a great one to experience in person.
The light shows were cool, though left me wondering the impact on the players going from darkness to light just before the snap. The music wasn’t overly distracting and the on-field MC was interesting. Never been a fan of the wave, but the cell phone wave was a new one for me. Never have I seen a bigger marching band, as many cheerleaders, or any baton twirlers; fun and different. The only negative was the playing of Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk”; while I appreciate the tie in, I have a tough time stomaching the song as U$C’s marching band provided the background music for the original recording. I digress, but the former Pac schools all have a long and storied disdain for the Condoms (eg: I chuckled at a sign I saw hanging from the Tri Delt house at Cal in the mid to late 70’s: “Trojans Burst under Pressure”; think I was 15 or 16). Anyway, the overall environment at Bryant Denny remained electric, even when the team slept through the first three and a half quarters. Just great stuff!
A couple of other notes:
Thought the flyover and the tributes for those in the military were really nice to see.
Contrary to Paul Finebaum’s take, I thought the naming of Saban Field was great and the ceremony special. Videoed it for my mom in law who’s a huge fan of Saban and the Tide, and I’d wager knows more about Alabama football than most on this site (stories to come there, eventually). She loved it.
The dark and dankness of the insides of the stadium were in stark contrast to the electricity inside; tough to navigate for a newbie, though. There were long lines for the concessions and apparently no wine anywhere for my wife (boo hoo). On the flipside, I hadn’t pee’d in a trough in a long, long time. Oddly nostalgic.
To wrap up. I loved the whole day. The electricity, the traditions, the painful win all made for a great day. The only thing that would have made the day better, would have been a few more minutes, actually, any minutes with our freshman on game day. That said, we went for a three plus hour drive the next day, and heard everything about her year so far. Really looking forward to the next 4 years.
Roll Tide Roll!
And Go Card!
Last weekend, my wife and I traveled to Tuscaloosa and went to the USF game; I thought it to be a truly a great experience overall, a good mix of the new and the old.
Parking was pretty easy, as we found a Boy Scout lot adjacent to the University Club, On a whim, we joined the University Club a couple of months ago and ended up “tailgating” there pre and post game. A really nice experience, great service and great food. Good people there, as well. Happy to plug the recently reopened Club. They’re working hard!
Since it was USF, we were able to get seats on the 47 yard line, row 20 behind the Bama bench. Surprisingly inexpensive on SeatGeek. Thanks for all the advice on where to sit; invaluable. While I was surprised how far those seats were from the field, I actually loved the walkway and fence behind the bench. Very cool and unique I think; might be fun to spend a game down there sometime. Someone mentioned that anything below row 11 would be tough to see, and I agree with that completely.
The crowd was electric, the songs and traditions a lot of fun. Most seemed to have shakers (I”ve been told not to call them pom poms) as well. Great to see, albeit different from what I'm accustomed. Our seat mates were a hoot and not at all what I was expecting. The guy two seats down cheered before every play with a quick quip of encouragement (eg "Come on D, it’s time to containnnnn!"), ending every one with "Roll Tide Roll”. For all three hours of the game he encouraged the team. The stamina he had! A woman two rows in front wore one of the more provocative outfits I’ve ever seen at a football game. My wife (an aforementioned Bama grad) had always told me how formally dressed the Alabama crowd was, though that’s certainly changed; not that I’m complaining. The overall enthusiasm and commitment for the Tide was great to see. College football runs a lot deeper here than it does on the Left Coast; it’s a different world, but a great one to experience in person.
The light shows were cool, though left me wondering the impact on the players going from darkness to light just before the snap. The music wasn’t overly distracting and the on-field MC was interesting. Never been a fan of the wave, but the cell phone wave was a new one for me. Never have I seen a bigger marching band, as many cheerleaders, or any baton twirlers; fun and different. The only negative was the playing of Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk”; while I appreciate the tie in, I have a tough time stomaching the song as U$C’s marching band provided the background music for the original recording. I digress, but the former Pac schools all have a long and storied disdain for the Condoms (eg: I chuckled at a sign I saw hanging from the Tri Delt house at Cal in the mid to late 70’s: “Trojans Burst under Pressure”; think I was 15 or 16). Anyway, the overall environment at Bryant Denny remained electric, even when the team slept through the first three and a half quarters. Just great stuff!
A couple of other notes:
Thought the flyover and the tributes for those in the military were really nice to see.
Contrary to Paul Finebaum’s take, I thought the naming of Saban Field was great and the ceremony special. Videoed it for my mom in law who’s a huge fan of Saban and the Tide, and I’d wager knows more about Alabama football than most on this site (stories to come there, eventually). She loved it.
The dark and dankness of the insides of the stadium were in stark contrast to the electricity inside; tough to navigate for a newbie, though. There were long lines for the concessions and apparently no wine anywhere for my wife (boo hoo). On the flipside, I hadn’t pee’d in a trough in a long, long time. Oddly nostalgic.
To wrap up. I loved the whole day. The electricity, the traditions, the painful win all made for a great day. The only thing that would have made the day better, would have been a few more minutes, actually, any minutes with our freshman on game day. That said, we went for a three plus hour drive the next day, and heard everything about her year so far. Really looking forward to the next 4 years.
Roll Tide Roll!
And Go Card!
